VenueSeen: A CRM Tool For Instagram

Many marketing experts have said that a brand should focus on the amount of engagement, not just the number of followers, when it comes to social marketing, Social CRM and Instagram campaigns.

How do you measure engagement on Instagram? Do you count the amount of likes and comments? But, what if the same people like and comment on your brand’s photo, day in, day out?

In this article, you might get some very interesting solutions to overcome your Instagram ROI challenges.

Today, brands are increasingly trying to create meaningful relationships with their audiences, instead of just focusing on creating “massive reach”.

With new upcoming social media like Pinterest and Instagram, and the growing demand towards social ROI, the market is ready for some solutions that helps us marketers make our lives much easier, when it comes to this type of marketing.

So what if you had a management and CRM tool for Instagram available, that would turn your Instagram marketing more into a walk in the park?

VenueSeen, an American company that helps brands utilize visual marketing to build lasting relationships with their customers, introduces VenueSeen Campaigns – “an all-in-one management and CRM tool to run Instagram campaigns.”

According to VenueSeen, the tool helps brands increase their presence and engagement on Instagram, expand their network, generate leads, and build their email list.

So how does it work?
Brands and marketers can use a dashboard provided by VenueSeen to create a campaign driven by hashtags. Through this dashboard, brands are enabled to monitor and promote hash tagged photos that are shared by their followers on Instagram.

When Instagrammers post a photo using the campaign hashtag, an automatic message is posted to the photo containing a URL leading the user to a brand website to verify their photo.

After the brand approves the photo, it will be uploaded on a custom-made website.

The user that uploaded the photo is urged to visit the website to verify their Instagram account and officially add the photo to the brand’s campaign. This makes them eligible to win prizes, coupons, and other brand related goodies.

Brands collect and manage the information the user uploads on the website through the dashboard, and consequently build an email list consisting of Instagram followers that can be useful in the future.

What does it cost?
According to VenueSeen’s CEO Brian Zuercher it depends on how far a brand is willing to take the campaign.

Prices can range anywhere from less than $1000 to several thousands of dollars.

An example of how VenueSeen works can be found in the Warrior Lacrosse campaign, set up to celebrate the launch of a new collection of Rabil lacrosse gear.

“We know our consumers are heavily using visual social media tools like Instagram. However, we haven’t quite figured out how to engage them in this space in a meaningful and relevant way. VenueSeen Campaigns allows us to do just that – help us create more meaningful relationships in this space. That’s key for us to turn fans and followers into repeat customers.”

Instagram users were prompted to upload photos of their Rabil X Head (the top of a lacrosse stick), for a chance to win more Rabil gear.

The campaign was announced on September 19th, with over 80 photos already tagged.

While this tool could definitely connect brands to their fans – VenueSeen expects fans to want to proclaim their love for a brand’s product on a branded website – the question is whether Instagram users will want their information being scooped up by the brand without knowing what it will be used for.

Awarding prizes and coupons to fans, however, could be a great incentive for users to give up information.

The price of the tool could be a major setback for many brands, especially because there are many ways to set up an Instagram campaign and engage customers without spending thousands of dollars.

The only added advantage to the VenueSeen Campaigns tool seems to be the possibility to set up an email list.

Firstly, however, a brand should determine who they are as a brand, and what the goal of their marketing effort is. Branding? Or something else?

Secondly, it should be determined whether or not Instagram is a suitable platform for the brand, because it is a medium in which visual content is prevalent. Can your brand’s story be told through images?

Only when these issues are clear, a brand can make the decision to work with a tool like VenueSeen Campaigns.
What About You?
Is the VenueSeen campaign tool useful and unique enough for brands to be worth the cost? Do you think brands need something like the VenueSeen tool to be able to create a database of follower information? Let us know!

About the author
Marion aan ‘t Goor is a recently graduated marketer and is a Junior Consultant at ICON&Co. You can connect with Marion via Twitter and LinkedIn.